1st December: Villa 4 Southampton 0. Doesn't matter how, doesn't matter where. It was a good win and that's what matters. Four goals, a clean sheet and a place in a quarter final.

2nd December: We're seventeenth richest club in the world. Fine so far as it goes but looking at some of the other rankings (such as Newcastle above Juventus) means that we shouldn't be taking these things too seriously. And we certainly should not let them be used to defend any chairmen who might be 'responsible'.

4th December: Villa 0 Newcastle 1. Things aren't going too well right now. The match doesn't start too promisingly when Lee Hendrie gets crippled and despite a fair bit of the play Villa are unable to mount much real attacking. Then Duncan Ferguson comes on and does what Duncan Ferguson doesn't do very often. There's no point in arguing about whether or not it was deserved, the fact is that we're bottom six and heading for serious problems.

5th December: To make matters worse, Ugo is complaining about John's complaints about him complaining about his injury. I think.

10th December: John still hasn't signed the letter the FA made him write saying he promised not to do it again, honest. He's still not best pleased with Ugo, either.

11th December: Villa 2 Darlington 1. Again, take a win however you can get it. Beni's goal was far too good for this match; a piece of genius that enlivened what was too close for comfort. Darlington did all you'd expect of them; their supporters made a lot of noise and the team ran around a lot and put in some challenges that were a bit on the 'boisterous' side. But they didn't give us any real problems. One minor point, though. Two up with most of the second half left should have been the cue for some shooting practice. Instead there was only one more goal and they scored it. One up against anybody isn't ideal but we're in the next round and that's the main thing.

15th December: West Ham 2 Villa 2. A travesty, nothing less. Scored early on thanks to Ian Taylor, holding on for most of the match, then held out for the rest of ninety minutes. Instead of folding we actually improved, took the match to the 'Appy 'Ammers and looked to have it sewn up thanks to as neat a finish from Dion Dublin as you'll see anywhere. So it's injury time, we've just scored and we know all about West Ham's injury time antics. Do we make sure the ball gets nowhere near our penalty area? Do we bollocks. Paul Kitson gets a VERY dubious penalty and it's sudden death time. Of course, there could only be one player to miss, but as three years ago at least he had the bottle to take one. No matter, we're out for another year. Or so we think.

17th December: That sub West Ham put in who nobody noticed. You know the rest of the story by now.

18th December: Villa 2 Sheffield Wednesday 1. When he writes his memoirs John Gregory might reveal that he was half an hour from getting the sack. Despite what had been said beforehand, losing would have made his job tenuous in the extreme. And after Wednesday went one up and we missed the first penalty time was definitely running out. Luckily Paul Merson finally showed what he's capable of. Scored, made one and even missed a penalty to keep a bit of uncertainty until the end. The only black spot was Dion injuring himself in a very strange incident towards the end.. And there's going to be a replay at West Ham, which is about all we could really hope for.

21st December: Ugo says he's quite happy to see Stan Collymore in the first team again. No, Stan. Stan Collymore. Remember?

24th December: John might be looking to bring a player in on loan from abroad, but there's no money to buy one. Which is strange talk from a club who are 17th wealthiest in the world.

26th December: The day begins with the 100th Hoddle for Villa headline. It continues with Derby 0 Villa 2. A very uninspiring first half and a very inspired second half Ian Taylor indeed. Things are starting to finally come good again and even if today wasn't perfect it was at least another step in the right direction.

27th December: Stan continues his tour of Europe by talking to Montpellier.

29th December: Villa 1 Spurs 1. Sometimes you just sit back and appreciate a great game, regardless of the result. And sometimes you rage about the injustices of life. First half we played as well as we have all year, only to go one down because of a momentary lapse and, in truth, a good goal. The second half saw more of the same, but again just as it appeared that we might be ending the century on a low point Ian Taylor pops up with an equaliser. We should have had three points, but a few weeks ago we wouldn't have got any so I'll say it's an improvement. Stan's back home because he won't play in a trial match. Were I the suspicious sort, which I'm not, I'd wonder about the coincidence of Cold Spell = Stan nips off to the South of France.

31st December: The New Year's Honours List is published. Lots of people are honoured for their contributions to society. Some are well known, others more obscure. None are travel agents (retired) from Little Aston. Again.

3rd January: Leeds 1 Villa 2. The new century starts how the old one started - with Aston Villa showing the rest of the world how to play football. Of course this should have been called off because of Leeds' horrendous injury crisis (four players out) while Villa were virtually at full strength (three players out). One up at half-time, and even when Leeds equalised and thoughts turned to circling the wagons we were still the better team. Couldn't see where our winner was going to come from, though. Southgate was the only player who looked like scoring and as he'd already got his goal for the season we didn't have much chance. I really should stop sharing my expert analysis with the rest of the world. To complete a fine day, John's made it up with Ugo.

6th January: Doug gives his annual State of the Nation address. He says he's wonderful, doing a great job and he'll go on for ever. Yippee. Dion's out for the rest of the season. And the ground redevelopment finally gets the go-ahead. The locals aren't best pleased, saying that it was pushed through quickly and without their knowledge. Even Barry Fry couldn't say that with a straight face.

8th January: Villa 1 Southampton 0. And on the first Saturday of the year, Aston Villa supporters shall attend their team's fixture and utter the mantra "It's our year for the FA Cup". Even when it does start a month early. By now Villa and Southampton should know each other in their sleep. This was never going to be a great match but I didn't think it would be so one-sided. Maybe we should have scored more, but the defence were never troubled and even if Southampton had scored, our new star striker would just have got another one. Into the next round and it's looking good.

9th January: Stan opens his heart to the Observer. He says he felt like killing himself last year but he's better now, thanks.

11th January: West Ham 1 Villa 3. Some things are just pre-ordained. Even at one down with ten minutes to go you knew we were going to do it, and who would get the goal. Nobody has been written off more over the past year than Ian Taylor, yet he still keeps getting better. There was no way di Canio was going to score their extra time penalty and if another goal was going in you knew who would score it. A great performance, a team full of heroes battling for two hours and who knows where it will all end. I've got a good idea though.

13th January: Reports suggest that American media company NTL are buying a 9.9% stake in the Villa. This one will run and run.